Saturday, December 27, 2008

Government bails out factory farming,

... then pawns the crap (literally) off on those with no choice - our nation's children.

It will be interesting to follow the recalls on this program with costs far more than the 42 million dollars of our tax-payer money they plan on wasting. I remember very well the 143 million pound Mad Cow beef that was recalled too late as most children already ate it before they ever knew what hit them. CJD (Human variant of Mad Cow Disease) takes years to show up. Eating animals of any kind presents a whole host of diseases. Stop using our tax-payer money to bail out factory farming. Start showing respect for children.

USDA buys 60 million pounds of chicken for school lunches

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States Agriculture Department said on Tuesday it bought about 60.451 million pounds of chicken products for about $42.2 million for school lunch and other nutrition assistance programs.

The purchase program was announced last month to help the chicken industry, which has been hit hard by high feed and fuel costs amid slowing demand from cost-conscious consumers.

Close to 30 million pounds of chicken -- almost half the total -- was bought from Pilgrim's Pride Corp (PGPDQ.PK), the USDA said.

Pilgrim's Pride, the top U.S. chicken producer, filed for voluntary bankruptcy earlier this month because of the difficult economic conditions.

The USDA also bought 16.787 million pounds from Tyson Foods Inc (TSN.N), the No. 2 producer.

Nine of 13 companies that submitted proposals to the program were successful, the USDA said.

Shipping costs to delivery destinations will be added to the price when the products are delivered between Jan. 1 and March 31, the USDA said.

A report with details about the purchase was not immediately available on the USDA's web site.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKN2354984020081223

http://whattoeatbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/usda-ers-report-on-school-lunch-program.pdf

http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/ams.fetchTemplateData.do?template=TemplateA&navID=CommodityPurchasing&leftNav=CommodityPurchasing&page=PYCPHomePage&acct=pcmdtyprocr

Please visit these two links to leave your say with Barack Obama
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/vegan_school_lunch_options
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/nationwide_humane_education

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1 comment:

  1. I can't imagine how many lives are represented in these numbers of millions of "pounds"... I have 13 rescued hens. And I love them. They are totally unique and wonderful to interact with... It's so horribly sad that so many millions die. BUT thanks to our bribe-atrian government the failed chicken butchers get to carry on with business as usual.

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